It’s always been risky to become an entrepreneur, and today those risks are greater when going against large established conglomerates. Capital A’s Tony Fernandes and Minor International’s William E. Heinecke shared their successful experiences as entrepreneurs at the 22nd Forbes Global CEO Conference.
At the panel, Minor’s Chairman William Heinecke (Bill) said that he delivered pizza to Thai people in 1980, seeing it was the perfect time to introduce American fast-food to the market. However, the response was not as impactful as he had anticipated. He later found out that some of the Thais are allergic to cheese, and it was his lack of research in the market that led to this slow start. He later changed the ingredient and the rest is history.
Bill addresses the panel that business and life as an entrepreneur does not come without challenges. The most recent one is the Covid outbreak that no one believed the impact from this pandemic would last this long.
The crisis comes right after his company, Minor International, had just spent a large capital to acquire NH Hotel, a giant hotel chain in Europe, two years prior. The impact from Covid outbreak put a heavy burden on the company, shouldering losses for several consecutive quarters.
The chairman pointed out that at the start of the pandemic, he and the boards took an initiative to raise capital. This prompt action kept the company in business during the dire situation and now returning to see profit.
Bill remarked that the company should never run out of money, which is why he took a quick action to raise capital during the pandemic. Also, it is the experience along the journey that makes him enjoy his life as an entrepreneur, while giving advice to others to never stop learning something new.
Meanwhile, CEO of Capital A, Tony Fernandes, said that being an entrepreneur does not need to start young. For him, he had the epiphany for doing an airline business when he was 36 and that was after he had quitted his office job.
Being an entrepreneur needs to learn how to take risks. The CEO gave an example of the disaster at the Bali bombing in 2002 when other airlines cancelled flights to Bali. Tony took a chance and decided not to walk the same path as the others. He offered 5,000 free seats to Bali and said that those 5,000 people came back and told the others that there was nothing to worry about. This is how he turns a crisis into an opportunity, adding that there is always opportunity after crises.
Additionally, Tony gives important advice to the government in Asia to stay out of businesses, adding that the involvement of the government is hindering growth of entrepreneurs, compared to those business persons in the west who are thriving when there is less pressure from their government. What the government should do is support the businesses.
